


Cascade

by yodepalma



Series: Schmoopfest 2016 [7]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: Ed Is A Little Shit, Fluff, Homophobia, M/M, Marriage Proposal, One Shot, Schmoop, Self-Indulgent, The Author Regrets Nothing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-22
Updated: 2016-03-22
Packaged: 2018-05-28 07:30:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6320149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yodepalma/pseuds/yodepalma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It makes him wonder what kind of ring he would even buy for his boyfriend (do they make rings in skull shapes?), if he were to propose.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cascade

**Author's Note:**

> I CAN'T SUMMARY TODAY *flails a lot*
> 
> Return of the schmoop! This is not the schmoop I expected to write, but I have discovered that it is definitely the schmoop I needed! Though my dayjob has suffered for it. I REGRET NOTHING.
> 
> Please do not ask me who "Mrs. Vecchio" is. I needed a character to own a restaurant, and pretty much the first name that popped into my head was that one. (The only problem is that _now_ I want to write a Due South/FMA crossover where FOR ONCE it isn't Fraser who knows everything, but instead RayV practices alchemy and he's, like, Ed's grandson/great-grandson or something.... ANYWAY.)

_Cascade_

Even in the safety of his own home, Roy isn't prone to fits of rage that cause him to slam things around. So when he reads the paper that morning, he puts it down on the table quite neatly and takes a calm sip of his coffee. Choosing instead to glare at the worthless waste of ink, he wills the offending article to burst into flames without his having to snap his fingers. It's all very subtle anger, because Roy is calm and poised and not actually ready to murder anybody just yet.

But Ed, despite what some people (idiots) believe, is neither stupid nor unobservant, even before his coffee has kicked in. He watches Roy’s silent actions with narrow eyes, chews thoughtfully on his eggs, and asks, “The fuck got up your ass?”

He has always had the most delightful turns of phrase.

“Hakuro,” Roy manages in a clipped voice, nodding at the paper, and Ed’s lips thin. He spins the paper around on the table and skims it quickly, brows furrowing in confusion when he finally catches sight of just what had set Roy off. For all his brilliance, for all that Ed can out-science and out-alchemy almost anyone on the planet, when it comes to political intrigue and sheer human pettiness, the twists and turns of the mind still blindside him. Roy loves and hates this characteristic in equal turns, but right now it's mostly just frustrating.

“It means that he and the other upper generals have decided that they're going to block any attempts by same-sex couples in the ranks to get married,” Roy explains with all the patience he can muster. “Canceling leave, sending them to separate and distant stations, that sort of thing. And who will dare to say anything?”

“That's illegal!” Ed protests, but not very strongly. He knows the military well enough by now. The legality of their actions has never stopped them before.

What Roy _doesn't_ tell Ed is that things would be different if a ranking officer got married first. He doesn't point out that if, say, a Brigadier General married his long-term boyfriend in a very public wedding, and the Führer did nothing to block it, it would be harder to play their games. Because if one man was allowed to get married due to his rank, but everyone else was not, the soldiers would talk, and the rumors would start, and the rebellion, when it came, would be short and brutal and could only have one outcome.

Roy doesn't tell Ed this because he knows perfectly well how Ed feels about marriage, and he will not be that man. He may be a smooth-talking manipulative bastard, as Ed loves to call him, but there are some lines even he won't cross.

Instead he lets the conversation fall apart where it is, and knocks back the rest of his coffee to fortify himself for another long day.

“I'd better get going,” he says reluctantly, moving around the table to kiss Ed goodbye. Ed tilts his head up a bit distractedly, kisses him as if he's doing complicated alchemy in his head again—Roy has become woefully familiar with the signs—and gives the newspaper a glare as if it has just offended Al. Roy gives his profile a fond smile and bends down to give his cheek a lingering kiss. “I love you.”

“Uh-huh,” Ed says. Roy waits a beat for what he'd said to actually process, and then Ed startles in his seat and turns to him with fire in his eyes. “You _ass_ , one day you're gonna say that when I'm not paying attention and you'll get pissed off when I don't respond!”

Roy sincerely doubts that, but he doesn't have the heart to tell Ed that he's been testing him for just that moment. He's said it a dozen times when Ed's been so deep in research that he eats whatever’s put in front of him without seeming to notice that it's there, and he has never failed to respond yet.

“I won't get angry,” Roy promises, “as it will have been my own fault anyway.”

“Yeah, right,” Ed snorts in disbelief. He gets up to grab the front of Roy's shirt and pull him down into a kiss, and Roy obligingly wraps both arms firmly around him. This kiss, in contrast to the first, is a little _too_ focused, Ed's body arching into his and Roy’s hands sliding slowly down his back, and they're both breathing heavily when they part.

“Hey,” Ed says, stretching up to give him another kiss. “I love you too.”

Roy grins down at him, gives him another soft and lingering kiss, but has trouble letting go. They stumble toward the door together, trading kisses as they go, and it isn't until Roy has the doorknob digging into his back that they manage to stop.

“I _really_ have to go,” Roy breathes, and Ed makes an unhappy little noise and nips sharply at Roy's throat right above his collar. It's a punishment of sorts, he knows, because it's going to bruise and he's going to be the talk of the canteen for days. He kisses Ed again, briefly, then pushes him away. “Darling, please, you're going to get me shot.”

“Fucking Hawkeye,” Ed growls.

“Please don't,” Roy says. “I don't think I can handle both of you.” As Ed’s blushing expression changes slowly from ‘appalled’ to ‘reluctantly curious’, he flees the apartment before he can get drawn in by Ed’s sheer Ed-ness again.

@-`---

Of course they send him out with Hakuro to inspect the men that very morning. The rank and file line up in their uniforms, bright and shiny and perfect as their commanders shout at them, and nothing is out of place. Roy can feel their eyes on him, knows some of them are wondering how he can stand next to this man who just declared that a law that Roy himself championed was practically void in the military, so Roy keeps his body language neutral and his face blank and he doesn't react to them at all.

Hakuro blusters and babbles, misses the “old days”, and finally, extra loudly so the closest men will be sure to hear it, sneers about how very glad he is that no men in _his_ military will dare to get inappropriately close to his brothers-in-arms. Roy can feel a muscle in his jaw twitch. Behind his back, where he has been trying to keep his hands clasped to help reign in his anger, his fingers rub together in a familiar soothing motion and he feels the sparks that cascade down too close to his pants. He has a brief, brilliant image of burning Hakuro’s eyebrows right off his stupid face, which bolsters him through whatever else the man says.

When the General finally turns to walk away, Roy lets his gaze slide out to the men one last time. Several in the front stare at him with wide eyes, and he doesn't imagine the few choppy nods or wobbly smiles he's given from men uncertain of their welcome. He smirks a bit, inclines his head briefly, and then follows his superior back into the building.

It isn't much, he knows, but sometimes you don't need much.

@-`---

There's a jewelry store on his nightly walk home. Normally he doesn't pay much attention to it, not much interested in jewelry and not wanting to find out how Ed would react if he got a necklace for a present, but tonight he slows down and then reluctantly stops to hover at the window. The ring on display is far too delicate for Ed, a thin band and a tiny gem shaped like a heart that would probably get Roy laughed at. It makes him wonder what kind of ring he would even buy for his boyfriend (do they make rings in skull shapes?), if he were to propose. Does Ed even _like_ diamonds? Roy can hardly see him wearing a wedding band, let alone some girly gem-encrusted ring that serves no functional purpose. He shakes the thought from his mind and continues home.

“So I've been thinking,” Ed says as they sit down to dinner that night. Roy had cooked, partly because Roy was better at it, but mostly because Roy actually enjoyed doing it. “We, uh, haven't been out to dinner for a while. I mean, just the two of us, usually we go because Al and Winry want to eat somewhere nice so they drag us along for your connections or whatever.”

“I thought you didn't like the fancy restaurants,” Roy says suspiciously.

“I don't. But I thought with the Hakuro thing,” Ed stabs viciously at a potato that’s done nothing to deserve such treatment, and it flies off his plate in protest. “your men might appreciate their only not-straight officer being seen with his boyfriend in public. And it'd be a slap in the old fuck’s face.”

Roy stares.

“Okay, Al said the shit about your men needing to see you with me or whatever,” Ed says, face turning red. He doesn't look up from his plate. “But I thought, well, you like the stupid romantic crap, and it probably wouldn't kill me to endure an expensive dinner with, like, candles and violin music or whatever the hell you think is necessary. So, we gonna go out or what? I'll wear a suit, you'll be all smug ‘n hot, it'll be great.”

Roy picks up his cup to hold back the laughter that wants to escape, but can’t hide the grin. “Dinner on me,” he agrees. “It'll be great.”

Ed glances up at him from behind his very long, very beautiful eyelashes, and grins brightly back at him. Roy's heart feels so full it hurts, and he gives up on eating dinner to watch his boyfriend instead.

It isn't very surprising when they end up in bed early that night.

@-`---

The restaurant Roy chooses is packed when they arrive. Roy keeps his fingers at the small of Ed’s back as he smugly (Ed had been unfortunately correct about that) leads his boyfriend inside, and gives his name to get them seated. The waiting room full of people, some of them incredibly important or at least famous, are all visibly annoyed when the restaurant owner comes out herself to greet Roy and Ed and lead them in ahead of everyone else.

“You haven't come to us in so long!” Mrs. Vecchio says with a very potent glare, moments before she pulls Roy down and loudly kisses both of his cheeks. She does the same thing to Ed, then pulls back with a bright grin. “Come, come! I have just the spot for my favorite boys!”

She leads them over to a table by the windows which, as Ed predicted, is lit by candles. It’s lacking violin music, but this is only because a live singer is on the stage at the far end of the room, crooning love songs so sappy Ed would probably laugh himself silly if he actually paid attention to the lyrics. Once they promise they’ll let her know if they need ‘anything, anything at all,’ Vecchio disappears and leaves Roy and Ed staring at their menus.

“Right,” Ed says eventually. “ _This_ is why we don't come out. How'd I forget?”

Roy snorts with laughter, kicking him lightly underneath the table, and Ed grins unrepentantly.

They pass dinner discussing Ed’s latest research (currently going nowhere) and the chances of Al and Winry actually having kids any time soon (Ed is betting they will, though Al swore up and down they were sticking with cats for a while yet), and the time passes pleasantly. Roy, cheek resting on his fist and feeling his soppy grin but unable to do anything about it as Ed rambles on about Al’s stupid names for his stupid new cats, has nearly forgotten they’re in a restaurant until the waitress comes over for their dessert orders.

Ed orders enough dessert to feed a regiment (as usual), and Roy declines dessert in favor of coffee (he'll steal some of Ed’s, as usual), and when he turns his attention back to his boyfriend Ed is rolling something around in his hands nervously.

“You're not allowed to say anything until I'm done,” he says, which, as an opening statement, is only mildly alarming. “I was thinking about that shit in the newspaper with Hakuro yesterday and trying to figure out if there was a way to get around the bullshit you were describing, which was hard, I don't understand how your twisted minds think like that all the fucking time—anyway. Anyway, I figured something out, but I wasn't sure if it would work, so I checked with Al, and then with Hawkeye because I figured if Hawkeye didn’t have anything we were fucked anyway, so, uh, so...”

Ed looks for a second like he has no idea what he’s doing, staring at Roy with wide eyes like he wants Roy to do it for him. The expression doesn’t last long. Roy's mind goes strangely blank as Ed gets down on one knee in front of him, popping the lid open on the little case in his hand, and holds a diamond-studded ring up to Roy that glitters hypnotizingly in the candlelight.

“I figured, you know how I feel about marriage,” Ed says, and now there’s a little nervousness to his voice that hadn't been there before. “It's stupid and pointless and people aren't fucking _property_ —okay, but that's not the point here, pretend I didn't say that. You weren't gonna do this because I've made my opinion pretty fucking clear, but I'm pretty sure you wanted to get married even before this shit went down so—let's get hitched?”

Roy blinks. Did he just say— “Do you have a romantic bone in your body?” he demands.

“Not a single fucking one,” Ed says cheekily.

“I'm planning the wedding,” Roy says as Ed, snickering, slides the ring onto Roy's finger. It fits perfectly, because Ed’s lucky like that. “You're a barbarian. I can't believe what comes out of your mouth sometimes—”

Ed puts a hand on either one of Roy's knees, but instead of standing he just leans forward and grins. “You gonna kiss me or what? I've seen movies; pretty sure it's required.”

“I ought to _strangle_ you,” Roy says, but grabs both of Ed's shoulders and pulls him into a kiss anyway. And if he’s really lucky, he'll never have to stop.

**Author's Note:**

> I have been informed that the way I had Ed propose to Roy is, like, exactly the opposite of how he proposed to Winry in FMA:B BUT I STILL HAVEN'T FINISHED WATCHING BROTHERHOOD YET T_T one day, guys, one day


End file.
